Some 284,700 Moroccan expatriates made a trip home during the summer holidays, between June 15 and July 28, via the Beni Ansar Port, a seven percent increase compared to figures from the same period last year, reported the state’s Office of the Exploitation of Ports (ODEP).

The number of passenger vehicles entering the North African state also increased by seven percent to 65,188 units, which were carried on 291 ships linking Morocco’s Nador region to Spain’s Almeria.

Moroccan expatriate remittances increased by 40 percent during the first half of 2002, reaching $1.5 million. Remittances are expected to increase to four billion dollars by the year's end, increasing foreign reserves at the Central Bank from $9.8 billion to $11 billion. — (menareport.com)